Remend alternatives/eye drop recommendations?

[Suki&Indie]

Hi all! So I had my first hay poke incident and the vet gave me antibiotic eye drops and painkiller. I read on here that a lubricant like remend is also very helpful but my vet didn’t have any. Does anyone have any good alternatives/eye drops that would work? Preferably something easy to get e.g in a pharmacy/pet shop as I live in Northern Ireland so getting stuff from online can be very slow.

 

[Wiebke]

Hi all! So I had my first hay poke incident and the vet gave me antibiotic eye drops and painkiller. I read on here that a lubricant like remend is also very helpful but my vet didn’t have any. Does anyone have any good alternatives/eye drops that would work? Preferably something easy to get e.g in a pharmacy/pet shop as I live in Northern Ireland so getting stuff from online can be very slow.

Hi

Remend is for corneal repair; it is very helpful especially for a badly scratched surface (like from hayseed stuck under a lid) and larger damaged areas but eyes do heal without it just as fine if a bit more slowly.

With hay pokes that have penetrated the surface and especially with any infections below the surface, the application of normal plain human carbomer based eye gel can help speed up the healing process through the hydration it provides in areas that the antibiotic (and Remend) cannot reach quite as well. Gel is longer lasting and more efficient than eye drops and widely available online (although not in all countries around the world, where tear drops will still help if not quite as quickly); any brand will do.

What you need to be careful about is that you have to wait at least half an hour after any antibiotic or other applications to the eye to allow them to be absorbed first. In my experience, the antibiotic eye drops or gel tend to dry out the surface a little so it is worth the wait and then following up with the tear gel for comfort and to promote the healing process. You can apply it 2-3 times a day, depending on the severity of the injury.

In order to apply any drops, gently pull down the lower eyelid and aim the drops into the gap between lid and eye. With gel you can just dab a little on the eye surface. It takes - like everything - a little practice, especially with a very sore eye so brace for some spillage.